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See Your Website Through the Eyes of the iPad

With the popularity of iPads and tablets, it is important to take a moment and view your website the way an iPad would see it. I’ve found this free online tool that allows you to do just that; see your site like an iPad sees it.

http://ipadpeek.com/

If you watch your Google Analytics statistics you will see that Google is now reporting iPad and tablets users in the statistics.

Of interest to me recently was that screen sizes were growing and now with the advent of iPads and tablets, they are shrinking again. A good size for a design is about 1100 pixels wide or so as this looks good on tablets and on most computer screens.

 

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Using QR Codes For Your Business

Now that you has seen QR Codes or Quick Response Codes on other sites how can you use them too? Here are a few of my suggestions.

Add a QR Code to Your Print Brochures
Add a QR Code to your print brochure, you can send your user to your home page or better yet send them to a custom created landing page that has a special offer to allow you to actually measure the results of your exposure from a trade show, speaking engagement, direct mailing.

Offer Special Coupon Codes and Promotions
Want to track mobile Web users? As most desktop users are not using QR Code scanners, you can encode special offers as a text snippet and even embed a special coupon code in a QR Code that can then be used immediately by smartphone users.

Encourage Google HotPot, FourSquare, and Google Places Reviews
By embedding your QR Code on your menu or guest check, restaurants can encourage visitors to interact immediately with location specific places to share their favorite spots with others and encourage visitors to even leave service reviews.

Print a QR Code on the back of your business card
With the ability to embed a vCard in your QR Code, you can make it easy for smartphone users to add your contact information to their phone and if they are syncing to Outlook will appear there too.

How do you think you will use a QR Code? Just click comments and let me know your suggestion too.

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Updating Facebook But Not Growing Fan Base?

So you are doing everything right, you are updating Facebook regularly and trying to interact with clients and customers there. You are sharing photos and occasional videos, but are concerned that your fan base is just not growing. What can you do?

First, your social community grows by a combined online and offline effort. Yes, it is important to make sure that you have something valuable for fans and potential fans to read when they hit your Facebook Business Page, but your fan base will not grow all by itself. To grow a Facebook fan base you need to be doing the following to drive traffic and create your own “buzz”.

1. Make sure you have a Facebook icon on your website and blog. You would be amazed at how many people forget this important step.

2. If you are blogging and you really should be, make sure you are blogging about what you are doing on Facebook and link in your posts as well.

3. In your newsletter, which you should be doing also, you need to link to Facebook and also talk about the valuable tips and tricks you are listing there or the other things you are routinely sharing on Facebook.

4. On Twitter, which you should be doing as well, you should be driving traffic to your Facebook page. Again talk about value and link to the videos or pictures you are sharing.

5. In your email signature you should be linking to all your online properties: website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Let everyone of your emails be an advertisement of how people can connect with you online.

6. If your fan base is still stagnant after aggressively pursing these avenues, now’s the time to consider a Facebook contest, giveaway, or even Facebook pay per click ads.

There is great value in building your Facebook fan base. Doing so allows you to market using the Facebook encapsulated email client directly to your fans’ inbox bypassing spam filters. You want to consider this access as a special trust. Don’t spam your users and really try to have your notes provide value as well as highlight service offerings.

The more you work your network, the more it will grow, but remember it does not grow over night, it does take time. If you need help getting started on Facebook, I invite you to check out our services.

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Google AdWords Tips

There are a few things that I want to share with you that I do to help improve performance routinely for an account. First, if it is at all humanely possible I ask the client to make sure that conversion tracking can be installed so that I can identify the keywords that are generating leads before we even start managing their account. I also ask that they install Google Analytics on their website as well.

Once I am managing their account here are a few things that I do to improve activity and conversions.

1. Week one and two I bid high on keywords to see what Google can do with the account. It is not uncommon for me to use the budget optimizer in campaign settings to allow Google to set the cost per click. I do not usually cap the cost per click amount in the settings in this initial testing phase.

2. I review the keywords that are generating clicks and conversions. I make sure that ad text is created that contains those specific keyword phrases in the exact order that they are shown in the control panel. I have found that by adding new ad text in this fashion I will stimulate additional conversion activity.

3. I routinely review the keywords from search activity both organic and paid from within the Google Analytics control panel. I don’t take a lot of time reviewing Google Analytics, but I do use it as a tool to harvest additional keywords as sometimes new ones and new directions occur in search traffic that can be used to improve activity in Google AdWords.

4. I routinely review the cost per conversion making sure that the cost is below what the client tells me he or she sells their product for. I want AdWords to be profitable and a good return on investment for the client.

5. I try to review the “all search terms” tab regularly in an account looking for new keywords to add and new negative keywords to add to an ad group or campaign to fine tune the program.

In the first four weeks of account activity I review the account every business day, as I have found that what I do in the first four weeks has significant impact on performance and the ability of Google to properly serve the account and maximize activity and conversions.

If you are looking for a Google AdWords Certified Partner who has the experience to make a difference in your lead conversions look no further and take a look at our services and prices.